The Midnight Hour

The Civilian Marksmanship Program, a not-for-profit organization chartered by Congress in 1903 to promote rifle marksmanship as a means of national defense, is hosting their annual Western Games at Wilcox Range on Camp Pendleton from 4-7 November. I signed up to fire in the John C. Garand match today and Monday and a special EIC match on Tuesday featuring the John C. Garand course of fire. The match requires competitors to fire an “as-issued” M1 Garand rifle. No accurization such as stock/receiver bedding, heavy barrels, or competition triggers are allowed. Ammunition is also issued, removing the benefit of handloads for those so inclined. The match is designed for M1 enthusiasts as an introduction to NRA highpower rifle shooting. The matches have an emphasis on recreation and sportsmanship, leaving the cutthroat gear-laden riflemen for the NRA matches later this week. I am firing my M1 I purchased from the CMP.

I began the day by getting my rifle inspected and ammo issued (see above pic). Then I started pulling targets in the pits for the first three relays. As relay five I would be the last relay to fire. My partner during the match was named Ken, who was placed on relay four. Relays four and five pulled targets while relays one, two, and three shot– then we traded. After a couple hours of pulling targets (and giving excellent pit service, if I do say so myself) Ken and I made our way back to the firing line to begin. Both he and the range coaches provided me an immense array of help, from loaning gear to loading ammunition to advising me on sight adjustments and shooting positions. I felt really blessed to have met other competitors like myself who are interested in performing their best, but don’t let competition block the fun.

Had I been unlucky, I might have been paired with the jackass three firing points down who repeatedly berated the shooter he was pulling targets for, complained that the “assholes” on the first relays were taking too long, and generally ran his mouth about any given topic. I shall hereafter refer to him as “El Jackass.” El Jackass also mentioned something negative about lieutenants, which I shrugged off. He also said something negative about staff sergeants. All of this leads me to wonder exactly what ranks he did like during his alleged service in the USMC. The corporal beside me who had been hired to pull targets (you can hire someone for about $20 if you don’t want to pull) agreed that El Jackass deserved his monacre. My favorite quote from El Jackass goes, “I could bend over backwards with my rifle between my legs and shoot better than that!” He was referring to the shooter he was pulling for, who was probably an enthusiastic beginner looking to have fun and learn about shooting. However, I think El Jackass was mistaken, because he scored about 170. As I mentioned in the Camp Fallujah Halo post, the loudmouth never wins. In this case, the loudmouth wasn’t even good at all. As a matter of fact, I think this dog knows more about shooting than El Jackass.

This dog also has his own doggie gas mask. This dog would pwn El Jackass’ face off.

The JCG course of fire is 30 rounds, with 5 sighting rounds fired before you start in order to adjust your sights to range conditions. You shoot 10 slow-fire shots in the prone, followed by 10 rapid-fire shots from the prone, and end with 10 slow-fire shots from the standing position. The maximum score for each shot is 10 points (the 10-ring) and all shots are weighted equally. I was happy with my score for the day, a 239-3x. 239 is my score (out of 300). 3x means I hit three X’s (the very dead center of the bullseye, inside the 10-ring). X’s are only used to break ties when two people have the same score. Medals start at 261 for a bronze medal and 280+ gets a gold medal. Only one person shooting the JCG match won gold. My critical errors all occurred in the standing position. Two times I let myself hold the rifle up too long and still forced off a shot. Once it hit the far right of the target. The next time it hit the berm in front of my target. That was 20 points right there. Tomorrow my goal is to not drop any shots from the standing. I don’t care if they are both 5’s, I just want them both in the scored section of the paper. Overall, I was happy with my time management, and got some excellent coaching from both the range coaches and my partner.

After the match was over there was a barbecue and CMP rifles were offered for sale. I had to walk away from the rifle table, because I was about to buy a Greek returned field grade Garand that had a matching 1943 barrel/receiver and the rare “lockbar” sights. The muzzle gauged at 2.5 and the throat erosion was almost 5. That means it had been shot a lot (high throat erosion), cleaned very little (low muzzle wear), and made in 1943. Sounds like it went to WWII. It might have even been at Normandy. After I put it down a gentleman next to me inspected it and bought it. In a twisted way I was really glad he bought it so that I was unable to. Is this what it’s like to be addicted to crack?

Tomorrow morning I will head back to Wilcox to compete in Monday’s JCG match. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Monday. The official results from today’s JCG match are posted on the CMP website here.